The Inside Story understands the importance of protecting an individual’s privacy. We adhere to the Code of Professional Behaviour of the Market and Social Research Society of Australia (AMSRS) and the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles. This code is designed to protect individual privacy while enabling legitimate social and market research practice with a view to the latest Australian Privacy Principles implemented in March 2014.

Should you wish to check the bona fides of any market research survey or project, AMSRS can be contacted on its free Survey Line on 1300 364 830. The AMSRS website, www.amsrs.com.au, provides information on the AMSRS Code of Professional Behaviour and the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles.

Why we collect personal information

Personal information is collected and held for market and social research purposes only. Only information relevant to the project is collected. All research results are aggregated and individual information not disclosed to other parties who are not involved in the research project unless with the explicit approval of those individual participants. The Inside Story does not disclose personal data to overseas recipients except under those terms that apply under the code of the Market and Social Research Society of Australia.

What personal information we collect

The type of personal information we collect depends on the nature of the research being undertaken. Generally, information for research purposes includes:

Demographic, eg name, age, gender, occupation, income

Geographic, eg address, postcode, state or territory, city

Behavioural, eg what people do, what people purchase, what people use

Needs, eg what people want or need in terms of products and services

Attitudes, feelings and opinions

All participation in market research is voluntary. We respect the right of people to withhold information or not to participate in research on the basis of privacy or perceived sensitivity.

How we collect personal information

We collect personal information from individuals who wish to participate in research undertaken by the Inside Story. The information may be collected for focus groups or in-depth interviews, telephone surveys, face to face surveys, surveys on the internet or other forms of research. All information is provided voluntarily and sometimes individuals are paid to participate in research (for example, for focus groups or in-depth interviews).

We sometimes obtain personal information about people from publicly available sources such as the telephone directory and sometimes from our clients who hold information about people they would like us to conduct research with (for example customers or clients). We conduct research for parties on the basis that they adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles, which commenced 12 March 2014. For some research projects we are provided with information about people by a third party, for example, recruiters or list providers which have opt-in databases for research participation.

For the duration of a research project and six months after completion, the Inside Story may hold lists of names and contact details of respondents so that necessary follow up and quality control is possible.

If client lists are involved

The purpose of these lists is to recruit in depths or focus groups for the project or conduct surveys – details contained in these lists will not be used for any other purpose.

In accepting these lists, we do this on the basis that all customer information was originally collected in a manner consistent with current Australian Privacy Principles. In particular, all listed customers were provided with the opportunity to indicate that they did not wish to be contacted for research purposes, and that those who so indicated were excluded from these lists.

If any customers that we contact from these lists indicate that they do not wish to be contacted for any future client research studies, we will let you know their details so that they can be excluded from any future research lists.

At the end of this study, we will destroy all copies of these customer lists. Our standard process is to destroy customer lists after 6 months.

We ensure personal information is stored securely and not misused or disclosed in any unauthorised way. All sensitive personal information held by the Inside Story held is in electronic form, is password protected and can only be accessed by our employees or by trusted suppliers who adhere to the same privacy procedures and standards using our secure website. If being sent electronically to trusted partners, the password is provided through a separate channel eg by phone. We do not send personal information to other countries unless consented to. If dealing with organisations and participants in other countries the data will be afforded at least the same level of protection as in Australia or greater as applies in the country of origin of the participant.

How to access to your personal information

While any information remains identifiable a respondent may request, subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act, access to, or deletion of, any personal information that is held, by contacting the Inside Story’s Privacy Officer.

Any queries, request for correction or complaints should be addressed to:

Inside Story Knowledge Management has a firm commitment to privacy in accordance with the issued by the Australian Privacy Commissioner. This statement discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this site.

Information logged

Electronic mail addresses

On-line subscription and feedback forms

Cookies

Links to other sites

If you are submitting personal information over the internet which you wish to remain private, please note that, while all attempts are made to secure information transmitted to this site, users should be aware that there are inherent risks transmitting information across the internet. If you prefer, you can contact us by phone or mail.

This site does not provide facilities for the secure transmission of information across the internet. While the risk of anyone intercepting and misusing information transmitted by email is usually very low you should be aware that a determined individual with the right skills may be able to do this.

Information logged

When you visit this site, our server logs information which is provided by your browser. This information is used to create summary statistics which allow us to assess the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, discover what information is most and least used, determine technical design specifications, and help us make our site more useful to visitors. The information logged is as follows:

The type of browser you are using

The date and time of your visit

Your top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc)

The address of the referring site

Your server’s IP address (a number which is unique to the machine through which you are connected to the Internet: usually one of your service provider’s machines)

The address of the pages accessed and any documents downloaded

No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities, unless disclosure is required by law or due to a mandatory requirement of a Court, Governmental Agency or Regulatory Authority. We use the information only for statistical analysis or systems administration purposes.

Electronic mail addresses

We will record your email address if you transmit it to us electronically, either in an email message or via a web page form. It will only be used for the purpose for which you provide it, and will not be added to a mailing list unless you request that this be done. We will not disclose it without your consent.

Cookies

A cookie is an electronic token that is passed between browser and server to transfer small amount of information. We do not use cookies to collect personal information or to track your activities. Cookies are not used on this site.

Links to third party websites

This site contains links to other sites. Inside Story Knowledge Management is not responsible for the privacy practices of these web sites and has no knowledge of whether cookies or other tracking devices are used on linked sites. If you have any concerns regarding your privacy you should ensure you are aware of the privacy policies of those sites.